Method, system and computer code for content based web advertising

ABSTRACT

An internet target marketing system, method, and computer program for distributing online advertising to viewers based upon the viewers&#39; interests is provided. The system, method, and computer program may involve identifying one or more document-related concepts derived from analysis of content of a web document capable of being displayed to the user, identifying one or more advertisement-related concepts relevant to an advertising, comparing the one or more document-related concepts to the one or more advertising-related concepts to determine a relevance, and selecting the advertising based on the relevance.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/936,782, filed Sep. 7, 2004 which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/483,092, filed Jan. 14, 2000, which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/995,616,filed Dec. 22, 1997, all of which are incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to online advertising management and moreparticularly to techniques for targeting information in the Internetenvironment. Specific embodiments can target advertising and othermarketing information.

With the rapid development of electronic commerce, the number ofInternet companies offering free services with the goal of creating acustomer base for web advertising has increased dramatically. Typically,Internet companies host web pages using a portal, a web page with linksto many other web pages. Portals contain web advertisements. Companiesadvertising on the portal pay a royalty to the portal provider. Examplesof popular portals include MYYAHOO, MYEXCITE, NETSCAPE NETCENTER, andHOTMAIL.

While there are perceived advantages to using web portals, furtherefficiencies can be had. For example, web portals are unable to provideadvertising to the user once the user exits the realm of web pagescontrolled by the portal. Internet service providers (ISPs), such asAmerica On Line (AOL), have more control over the advertising reachingtheir subscribers because the ISPs retain control over pages served tothe user. However, to continue to provide advertising on every web pageserved to a user currently requires reformatting the web page or poppingup annoying windows with advertisements in them.

What is needed is a technique for targeting advertising to online userswithout compromising user privacy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, an internet target marketing system,method and computer program for distributing online advertising toviewers based upon the viewers' interests is provided. Specificembodiments according to the present invention can use an n-way matchingof user's concepts of interest, advertiser's concepts and conceptscontained in a currently viewed document to target advertising to theviewer of the current document. Some embodiments can generate acontextually sensitive advertisement for each page viewed in a browser,thereby associating an advertisement with every page in a document.Specific embodiments can associate advertising with documents that aresubstantially free of embedded advertisements, for example. Alternativeembodiments can include embedded advertising, however.

In a specific embodiment according to the present invention, a methodfor targeting advertising to a user based upon content of an activedocument is provided. An active document can be one that is presentlydisplayed to a user, for example. However, in some embodiments, anactive document can be one that is being processed by a daemon orbackground process. The method includes analyzing at least one documentto identify discussion of information corresponding to one or more userselectable concepts of interest. This analysis can provide a userconcept relevance, which can comprise a measure of relevance of thedocument to one or more concepts defined by the user. The method canalso include analyzing the document to identify discussion ofinformation corresponding to one or more advertiser selectable conceptsof interest. This analysis can provide an advertiser concept relevance,which can comprise a measure of relevance of the document to one or moreconcepts defined by the advertiser. The method can also includecomparing the user concept relevance and the advertiser conceptrelevance for the document to determine an overall relevance. Selectingadvertising having a particular overall relevance can also be part ofthe method. The particular relevance can be the greatest relevance,least relevance, or within a range of greatest or least relevance, forexample. The method can also include displaying the advertisementselected to a user.

In another embodiment according to the present invention, a system fortargeting advertising to a user based upon content of one or moredocuments displayed to the user is provided. The system comprises aprofile content recognizer that analyzes contents of documents forinformation corresponding to one or more user selectable concepts. Theprofile content recognizer provides an output of concepts contained inthe document that correspond to the one or more user selectableconcepts. The system also comprises an advertising content recognizerthat analyzes content of documents for information corresponding to oneor more advertiser selectable concepts. A comparator compares the outputfrom the profile content recognizer and the output from the advertisingcontent recognizer and selects from a plurality of stored advertisementsones that are relevant to the information contained in the documentsbased upon the comparison.

In a further embodiment according to the present invention, a computerprogram product for targeting advertising to users based upon a contentof one or more documents displayed to the user comprises code foranalyzing the documents to identify discussion of informationcorresponding to one or more user selectable concepts of interest isprovided. This code can provide a user concept relevance indication,which can comprise a measure of relevance of the document to one or moreconcepts defined by the user. Code for analyzing the documents toidentify discussion of information corresponding to one or moreadvertiser selectable concepts of interest is provided. This code canprovide an advertiser concept relevance indication, which can comprise ameasure of relevance of the document to one or more concepts defined bythe advertiser. Code for comparing the user concept relevance and theadvertiser concept relevance for the document in order to determine anoverall relevance is also part of the product. Code for selectingadvertising having a particular overall relevance and a computerreadable storage medium for holding the codes are also part of theproduct. The particular relevance can be the greatest relevance, leastrelevance, or within a range of greatest or least relevance, forexample.

In a yet further embodiment according to the present invention, a methodfor automatically associating advertising objects with web objects isprovided. The method includes analyzing one or more web objects toidentify information corresponding to at least one first concept ofinterest and analyzing the one or more web objects to identifyinformation corresponding to at least one second concept of interest.Determining a relevance between the first concepts of interest and thesecond concepts of interest can also be part of the method. The methodcan also include associating the one or more web objects with the one ormore advertising objects based upon the relevance.

In a still further embodiment according to the present invention, acomputer program product for automatically associating advertisingobjects with web objects is provided. Code for analyzing one or more webobjects to identify information corresponding to at least one firstconcept of interest can be part of the product. Code for analyzing theone or more web objects to identify information corresponding to atleast one second concept of interest can also be part of the product.The product can also include code for determining a relevance betweenthe first concept of interest and the second concept of interest. Codefor associating the one or more web objects with the one or moreadvertising objects based upon relevance and a computer readable storagemedium for holding the codes can also be part of the product.

Numerous benefits are achieved by way of the present invention overconventional techniques. The present invention can provide a way totarget advertising relevant to the viewer's current interests along withweb pages on a single screen. Embodiments according to the presentinvention can achieve more specific targeting than techniques known inthe art. For example, some embodiments can detect that one user'sdefinition of sports includes hunting and fishing, while another user'sidea of sports may include marathon running. Such embodiments canprovide better targeting of advertisements than conventional techniques.Some embodiments according to the present invention can provide betterprotection of viewers' privacy than conventional web browser userinterfaces. Embodiments according to the invention can provide moreinformation to the user than known techniques. Many embodimentsaccording to the invention will enhance the user's web browsingexperience by providing indication of which links are likely to be ofmost interest. These and other benefits are described throughout thepresent specification.

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the inventionsherein may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of thespecification and the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1C illustrate a representative system for implementing aparticular embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a representative computer system in a particularembodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates basic subsystems of the system of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4A-4B illustrate simplified flowcharts of representative processsteps in particular embodiments according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a simplified flow block diagram for automaticannotation in a particular embodiment according to the presentinvention;

FIGS. 6A-6C illustrate simplified flow block diagrams for automaticannotation in a particular embodiment according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a simplified diagram of a representative Bayesianbelief network useful in automatic annotation in a particular embodimentaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a representative user interface for defining a userprofile in a particular embodiment according to the present invention;

FIGS. 9A-9B illustrate a representative interface for providing userfeedback in a particular embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates a portion of a representative HTML documentprocessed in a particular embodiment according to the present invention;and

FIGS. 11A-11E illustrate representative screen displays in a particularembodiment according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, an interest profile based targetmarketing system, method and computer program for distributing onlineadvertising to viewers based upon the viewers' interests is provided. Anembodiment according to the present invention has been reduced topractice under the name Reader's Helper™.

Representative embodiments according to the present invention provideone or more marketing information areas on a web browser, for example.The marketing information areas can provide viewers access toadvertising, public service information and the like. The marketinginformation display area can provide consistent, unobtrusive access tomarketing information. Embodiments according to the present inventionare operable with many of a wide variety of web browsers known to thoseof ordinary skill in the art, such as web browsers provided byNEOPLANET, a company with headquarters in Phoeniz, Ariz.(www.neoplanet.com), MICROSOFT CORPORATION's Internet Explorer, NETSCAPENavigator, and the like. The marketing information display area canprovide a location for advertising, and the like, which does notinterfere with the document's content.

Targeted advertising refers to the organized exposure of marketinginformation to persons determined to be most likely to buy the productor service being advertised. Targeting can be performed based uponpersons' demographic and other information, for example. Thedetermination is made based upon a profile for a particular persondeveloped from information about the person's usage of products orservices, and the like. For example, information about the web pages aperson visits can be gathered and analyzed to provide a profile of theperson's interests and the like. Web advertisement objects likely toappeal to a particular user can be displayed in marketing informationarea of the user's browser. In another embodiment, marketing informationcan be distributed based upon information about the web “channels” aperson uses. In one embodiment, users who view web pages and usechannels via a particular portal provide information that can be used totarget advertising using the marketing information area in the user'sbrowser. Embodiments can analyze the Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)associated with the web pages browsed by the user. Other embodiments cananalyze the content of the web pages themselves to gather informationabout the user's interests.

FIG. 1A illustrates a simplified block diagram of a representativesystem for targeting marketing information in a particular embodimentaccording to the present invention. This diagram is merely an examplewhich should not limit the scope of the claims herein. One of ordinaryskill in the art would recognize many other variations, alternatives,and modifications. FIG. 1A illustrates a server 10 that provides aninterface between one or more client browsers 12 a, 12 b and 12 c andone or more advertisers 14 a, 14 b and 14 c. Server 10 can access a URLfor each advertiser. The URL can point to a particular advertiser'sdesired marketing information. For example, in FIG. 1A, URLs 16 a, 16 band 16 c point to marketing information for advertisers 14 a, 14 b and14 c, respectively. In a presently preferable embodiment, marketinginformation can comprise animated GIF format files. However, multimediaobjects having formats such as MPEG, JPG, and the like, as well asinformation objects having other formats known to those of ordinaryskill in the art, can also be used in select embodiments according tothe present invention. In a representative specific embodimentillustrated by FIG. 1A, a database 18 can store advertising, forexample, indexed by concept. FIG. 1A illustrates a plurality ofrepresentative advertisements, including advertisements 17 a, 17 b and17 c that can contain marketing information from advertisers 14 a, 14 band 14 c. Advertisements 17 a, 17 b and 17 c have corresponding URLs 16a, 16 b and 16 c that enable the advertisements to be accessed by theadvertisers for maintenance purposes, and the like. Server 10 canretrieve advertisements 17 a, 17 b and 17 c via Internet 21, forexample, based upon a determined relevancy between the user's interests,which can be included in a profile, for example, the advertiser'sconcepts and the content of the current document being viewed.

It is a noteworthy aspect of embodiments according to the presentinvention that advertisers can update their corresponding marketinginformation substantially independently of interfering with the clients'viewing of the information. In a presently preferable embodiment,advertisers can also monitor usage of their marketing information by theclients by, for example, counting the “hits” on a particular web objectcorresponding to the advertiser's marketing information to indicateusage. In some embodiments, usage statistics can be provided by server10.

FIG. 1B illustrates a simplified flow diagram for a representativeprocess for targeting marketing information in a particular embodimentaccording to the present invention. This diagram is merely an examplewhich should not limit the scope of the claims herein. One of ordinaryskill in the art would recognize many other variations, alternatives,and modifications. FIG. 1B illustrates a process that can be embodied inserver 10 of FIG. 1A, for example. A document 100 is input for both aprofile content recognizer 102 and an advertisement content recognizer104. Profile content recognizer 102 can also input user selectableconcepts from database 19. Profile content recognizer 102 produces anoutput 20 comprising one or more user concepts from database 19 that arerelevant to the contents of document 100. Advertisement contentrecognizer 104 can input advertiser concepts from database 18.Advertisement content recognizer 104 produces an output 22 comprisingone or more advertising concepts from database 18 that are relevant tothe contents of document 100. A concept comparator 106 compares userconcept output 20 from profile content recognizer 102 and advertiserconcept output 22 from advertisement content recognizer 104 to produceas an output a “best ad,” 30, an advertisement targeted to the user ofclient browser 12 a based on the content of the document, the user'sinterests and the content of the advertisements. User concept output 20can also be provided to browser 12 a to provide indication to the userof relevance of the document to the user's concepts of interest. In apresently preferable embodiment, these processes can co-reside on anInternet Service Provider's (ISP) servers, or a proxy service, so thatadvertisers are unable to access the users' profiles in database 19. Ina specific embodiment, advertisers can, however, receive statisticalinformation regarding usage from the ISPs.

In a specific embodiment, the user's personal profile can be used toannotate specific portions of a document displayed to the user that areof a greater interest to the user, as defined by the user's chosenconcepts of interest in the personal profile. In some specificembodiments, the annotated phrases in the portion of the document beingviewed and/or all phrases in the portion of the document being viewedcan be used to pinpoint what a user might be interested in. For example,the user may be viewing a portion of a document which contains manyhighlighted keywords related to the user's concepts of interest. Theuser can be sufficiently interested in such a document portion toclosely read the contents. Therefore, advertising can be targeted basedupon the information that the user is currently reading. In this case,the highlighted words can be compared with the advertising concepts inorder to determine an appropriate advertisement to display at that time.Such embodiments can provide better advertising for a user as the userreads a document, and can change the advertisement being displayed asthe user scrolls through the document.

FIG. 1C illustrates a simplified diagram of a representative searchtechnique in a particular embodiment according to the present invention.This diagram is merely an example which should not limit the scope ofthe claims herein. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize manyother variations, alternatives, and modifications. FIG. 1C shows a firstportion of an example document 105, viewable by a user. Document portion105 includes several highlighted words. These highlighted words comprisea context that causes the display of a first advertisement 107, “Ad 345”because of the correspondence between the concepts in this advertisementand the concepts in the contents of the document portion 105. Later, theuser views a new area of the document, document portion 109. Thesehighlighted words comprise a context that causes the display of a secondadvertisement 111, “Ad 938” because it is now the most relevantadvertisement to the concepts being viewed by the user. If the use ofonly the highlighted words does not yield an advertisement with asufficient relevancy score, R_(j), other phrases contained in theviewing area can be used as the matching criteria for the collection ofadvertising concepts.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a representative system according to aparticular embodiment of the present invention. This diagram is merelyan example which should not limit the scope of the claims herein. One ofordinary skill in the art would recognize many other variations,alternatives, and modifications. FIG. 2 depicts but one example of manypossible computer types or configurations capable of being used with thepresent invention. Embodiments according to the invention can beimplemented in a single application program such as a browser, or may beimplemented as multiple programs in a distributed computing environment,such as a workstation, personal computer or a remote terminal in aclient-server relationship. FIG. 2 shows computer system 210 includingdisplay device 220, display screen 230, cabinet 240, keyboard 250 andmouse 270. Mouse 270 and keyboard 250 are representative “user inputdevices.” Other examples of user input devices are a touch screen, lightpen, track ball, data glove and so forth. FIG. 2 is representative ofbut one type of system for embodying the present invention. It will bereadily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that many systemtypes and configurations are suitable for use in conjunction with thepresent invention.

In a preferred embodiment, computer system 210 includes a Pentium® classbased computer, running Windows® NT operating system by MicrosoftCorporation. However, the method is easily adapted to other operatingsystems and architectures by those of ordinary skill in the art withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention.

Mouse 270 may have one or more buttons such as buttons 280. Cabinet 240houses familiar computer components such as disk drives, a processor,storage means, etc. As used in this specification “storage means”includes any storage device used in connection with a computer systemsuch as disk drives, magnetic tape, solid state memory, bubble memory,etc. Cabinet 240 may include additional hardware such as input/output(I/O) interface cards for connecting computer system 210 to externaldevices such as a scanner 260, external storage, other computers oradditional peripherals.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of basic subsystems in computer system 210 ofFIG. 2. In FIG. 3, subsystems are represented by blocks such as centralprocessor 300, system memory 310, etc. This diagram is merely an examplewhich should not limit the scope of the claims herein. One of ordinaryskill in the art would recognize many other variations, alternatives,and modifications. The subsystems are interconnected via a system bus320. Additional subsystems such as a printer, keyboard, fixed disk andothers are shown. Peripherals and input/output (I/O) devices can beconnected to the computer system by any number of means known in theart, such as serial port 330. For example, serial port 330 can be usedto connect the computer system to a modem, a mouse input device, or ascanner. The interconnection via system bus 320 allows central processor300 to communicate with each subsystem and to control the execution ofinstructions from system memory 310 or the fixed disk 332, as well asthe exchange of information between subsystems. Other arrangements ofsubsystems and interconnections are readily achievable by those ofordinary skill in the art. System Memory 310, and fixed disk 332 areexamples of tangible media for storage of computer programs, other typesof tangible media include floppy disks, removable hard disks, opticalstorage media such as CD-ROMS and bar codes, and semiconductor memoriessuch as flash memory, read-only-memories (ROM), and battery backedmemory.

In a presently preferable embodiment, a concept indicator can be used toprovide an indication of relevance of the content of a document to oneor more concepts in conjunction with a web browser that can provide oneor more display areas for documents and marketing information. Theconcept indicator illustrates the results of analyzing documents theuser browses for content relevant to the user selectable concepts ofinterest. A value is assigned based upon a determined likelihood thatthe document is of interest to the user. In a presently preferableembodiment, key phrases used throughout a document are automaticallyhighlighted according to their relevance to the user's selectableconcepts of interest so that the user can find relevant information moreefficiently. Each user-defined concept of interest can include acollection of key phrases that describe important features in documentsabout that concept. The concept indicator can provide an indication to auser whether a document is about the concept and worth reading. Conceptindicators are described in greater detail in a commonly owned copendingU.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/995,616, the entire contents ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

Embodiments according to the present invention can provide the abilityto create advertising and other marketing information which targetviewers of web pages or documents that are most likely to be read bypeople who would be interested in their products. For example,techniques according to the present invention can determine thatadvertisements for “Outside” magazine would be of interest to readers ofdocuments or web pages that contain information about mountaineering ortrekking, as well as readers indicating a preference for these conceptsof interest, for example. Advertisements for conferences, for example,can be triggered by displaying abstracts of papers from a previousconference on the same subject matter, for example.

In a particular representative embodiment according to the presentinvention, advertising can be targeted based upon the user's concepts ofinterest and how relevant these concepts are for a particular document.Relevance can be determined using a scoring or other method as describedbelow. This information, in conjunction with the actual content of thedocument, can be used to target advertising to users. Concepts, whichdefine sets of interests, can be collected from user input or othermechanisms. In a presently preferable embodiment, user privacy can bemaintained because user profiles are not shared with advertisers. Userprofiles can be stored locally on the client computer, or at an ISPserver, or a proxy service, for example. In some specific embodiments,advertisers can be provided statistical information recorded by theuser's browser, for example.

In a yet further embodiment according to the present invention,advertising can be selected based on content analysis. Advertising canbe associated with web page contents for portals and the like based upona system of assigned concepts. Providers of web portals, for example,can create a set of associations between web pages linked to the portalweb page and the advertisement. In a particular embodiment, contentanalysis techniques can provide the associations between advertisingobjects and web objects based upon particular categories.

FIG. 4A depicts a flowchart 401 of simplified process steps fortargeting marketing information to users based upon content of one ormore documents displayed to the user in a particular representativeembodiment according to the present invention. This diagram is merely anexample which should not limit the scope of the claims herein. One ofordinary skill in the art would recognize many other variations,alternatives, and modifications. FIG. 4A illustrates a step 402 ofanalyzing a document to identify discussion corresponding to one or moreuser selectable concepts of interest. The content of documents can beanalyzed using techniques described herein with reference to FIGS. 5-8in which the text of a document is compared to a collection of concepts(i.e. concepts of interest), to generate a probability for each conceptrepresenting the similarity between concept and document. Furtherinformation about relevancy determination techniques can be had byreference to commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/995,616,the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference for allpurposes. Then, in a step 404, a collection of relevant concepts can beproduced based upon the probabilities determined in step 402.

Then, in a step 406, the contents of the document is again analyzedusing the same technique as in step 402, to determine relevance betweenthe document and concepts which represent advertiser definitions. In aspecific embodiment, these advertising concepts can be keywords thatadvertisers have identified as being relevant to their product, forexample. In a specific embodiment, a probability estimate can begenerated for each advertising concept for each document. Then, in astep 408, a collection of relevant concepts can be produced based uponsuch probability estimates determined in step 406.

Next, in an optional step 409, the collection of concepts produced instep 404 can be delivered to a web browser configured to displayindications of relevancy of the document to user. Then, in a step 410, acomparison can be made between the collection of user concepts providedby step 404 and collection of advertising concepts provided by step 408in order to determine which advertising concepts are most similar, forexample, to the user concepts. Then, in a step 412, the selectedadvertising can be delivered to the user. Optionally, the advertisingcan be displayed in a marketing information area of a web browser, forexample.

FIG. 4B depicts a flowchart 403 of simplified process steps forautomatically associating advertising objects with web objects and userconcepts of step 410 of FIG. 4A, in a particular representativeembodiment according to the present invention. This diagram is merely anexample which should not limit the scope of the claims herein. One ofordinary skill in the art would recognize many other variations,alternatives, and modifications. FIG. 4B illustrates a step 422 ofperforming similarity analysis between the user concepts provided instep 404 of FIG. 4A and the collection of relevant advertising conceptsprovided in step 408 of FIG. 4A.

In some specific embodiments, techniques well known to those of ordinaryskill in the art could be used to perform a comparison such as thatperformed by step 422 of FIG. 4B. For instance, the book, “InformationStorage and Retrieval,” by Robert R. Korfhage, (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.1997) describes several relevancy measures which can be used formatching. In one representative embodiment, a matching technique uses adocument similarity method, in which each user and advertising conceptcould represent a document, i.e. a collection of terms. Some specificembodiments can use a term-frequency measure, in which vectorrepresentations for both the user and advertising concepts are created.These vectors can be compared to create a new vector the size of thetarget vector with 1's representing matches and 0's representingnon-matches, for example. In a representative example, a user concept Ccan be represented as a vector of terms, C=<t₁, t₂, t₃, . . . , t_(x)>,and an advertising concept A can be represented as a vector of terms,A=<t₁, t₂, t₃, . . . , t_(y)>. A vector comparison that indicates thefrequency of terms from vector C_(i) in vector A_(j) yields the vector:V_(i,j)=<0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0>.

In this example, concept C_(i) contains seven keywords of which threematched the advertising concept A_(j). Let W_(i,j) represent the sum ofthe values in the vector V_(i,j). The similarity value for thiscomparison is represented by S_(i,j), which is equal to W_(i,j) dividedby the length of V_(i,j) (which can be denoted by X,) multiplied by thecomparison value, ci=0.56, generated in step 402 of FIG. 4A between thedocument and the user concept, e.g. ( 3/7)*0.56=0.24:$S_{ij} = {\left( \frac{W_{ij}}{X_{i}} \right) \times c_{i}}$

The ci value provides a bias to the S_(i,j) value towards higher scoringuser concepts. Given all relevant user concepts and all relevantadvertising concepts, a matrix can be constructed having similarityvalues for each combination of user/advertising concepts. Table 1illustrates a representative example of such a matrix in one specificembodiment. TABLE 1 Comparison matrix Concept/Ad C₁ C₂ C₃ . . . CiRelevancy A₁ S_(1, 1) S_(2, 1) S_(3, 1) . . . S_(m, 1) R₁ A₂ S_(1, 2)S_(2, 2) S_(3, 2) . . . S_(m, 2) R₂ A₃ S_(1, 3) S_(2, 3) S_(3, 3) . . .S_(m, 3) R₃ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aj S_(1, n)S_(2, n) S_(3, n) . . . S_(m, n) R_(n)

In this representative example, a collection of the relevant userconcepts, {C₁, C₂, C₃, . . . , Ci}, and relevant advertising concepts,{A₁, A₂, A₃, . . . , Aj} are included. The individual similarity valueis represented for each comparison between user concept and advertisingconcept as S_(i,j), where i is the user concept index and j is theadvertising concept index. Next, in a step 424, a “best” advertisingconcept given all of the user concepts can be determined. In this step,the comparison value generated in step 406 of FIG. 4A betweenadvertising and document, aj, is used to bias the user/advertisingconcept comparison value S_(i,j) towards advertising concepts which aremore similar to the current document. This combination for eachadvertising concept yields the final similarity measure used to rank theadvertisements:$R_{j} = {\left( {\sum\limits_{i}^{m}S_{ij}} \right) \times a_{j}}$

If multiple advertisements with the same R_(j) value are present, the ajvalue can be used to “break the tie,” and the advertising concept withthe higher score with respect to the document will be delivered to theuser's browser. If R_(j) does not exceed some threshold, e.g. 20%relevancy, the advertisements can be ranked using the original contentbased value aj. In this case, the better solution is to deliver anadvertisement that is at least similar in content to the currentdocument. Note that in the case where neither the R_(j) value nor the ajvalue surpass a threshold, then either no advertisement is displayed, orother information in the advertisement area such as relevant headlinenews or news related to the user's profile can be displayed.

FIG. 5 depicts a simplified flow diagram for analyzing electronicallystored documents for content in a particular embodiment according to thepresent invention. This diagram is merely an example which should notlimit the scope of the claims herein. One of ordinary skill in the artwould recognize many other variations, alternatives, and modifications.The method for analyzing electronically stored documents, such as webobjects and the like, is more fully detailed in a commonly ownedcopending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/995,616, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.Document 100 is stored in an electronic format. It may have been scannedin originally. It may be, in HTML, Postscript, LaTeX, other wordprocessing or e-mail formats, for example. The description that followsdescribes an embodiment that uses an HTML format. However, other formatsmay be used in other specific embodiments without departing from thescope of the present invention. A user 504 accesses document 100 througha browser 506. Browser 506 is preferably a hypertext browsing programsuch as NETSCAPE Navigator or MICROSOFT CORPORATION Internet Explorerbut also may be, a conventional word processing program, for example.

Annotation agent 508 adds the annotations to document 100 to prepare itfor viewing by browser 506. Processing by annotation agent 508 may beunderstood to be in three stages, a text processing stage 510, a contentrecognition stage 512, and a formatting stage 514. The input to textprocessing stage 510 can be raw text, or text having embedded html tags,for example. The output from text processing stage 510 and input tocontent recognition stage 512 is a parsed text stream, a text streamwith formatting information such as special tags around particular wordsor phrases removed. The output from content recognition stage 512 andinput to formatting stage 514 is an annotated text stream. The output offormatting stage 514 is a formatted text file which may be printed orviewed with browser 506.

The processing of annotation agent 508 is preferably a run-time process.The annotations are not preferably pre-inserted into the text but arerather generated when user 504 requests document 100 for browsing. Thus,this is preferably a dynamic process. In an alternative embodiment,annotation agent 508 may instead operate in the background as a batchprocess.

The annotation added by annotation agent 508 depends on concepts ofinterest selected by user 504. User 504 also inputs information used byannotation agent 508 to identify locations of discussion of concepts ofinterest in document 100. In a preferred embodiment, this informationdefines the structure of a Bayesian belief network. The concepts ofinterest and other user-specific information are maintained in a userprofile file 516. User 504 employs a profile editor 518 to modify thecontents of user profile file 516.

FIG. 6A depicts the automatic annotation software architecture of FIG. 5with text processing stage 510 shown in greater detail. This diagram ismerely an example which should not limit the scope of the claims herein.One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many other variations,alternatives, and modifications. FIG. 6A shows that the source ofdocument 100 may be accessed via a network 602. Possible sources includee.g., the Internet 604, an intranet 606, a digital copier 608 thatcaptures document images, or other office equipment 610 such as a faxmachine, scanner, printer, etc. Another alternative source is the user'sown hard drive 332.

Text processing stage 510 includes a file I/O stage 612, an updatingstage 614, and a language processing stage 616. File I/O stage reads thedocument file from network 602. Updating stage 614 maintains a historyof recently visited documents in a history file 618. Language processingstage 616 parses the text of document 100 to generate the parsed textoutput of text processing stage 510.

FIG. 6B depicts the automatic annotation flow diagram of FIG. 5 withcontent recognition stage 512 shown in greater detail. This diagram ismerely an example which should not limit the scope of the claims herein.One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many other variations,alternatives, and modifications. A pattern identification stage 620looks for particular patterns in the parsed text output of textprocessing stage 510. The particular patterns searched for aredetermined by the contents of user profile file 516. Once the patternsare found, annotation tags are added to the parsed text by an annotationtag addition stage 622 to indicate the pattern locations. In a preferredHTML embodiment, these annotation tags are compatible with the HTMLformat. However, the tagging process may be adapted to LaTeX,Postscript, etc. A profile updating stage 624 monitors the output ofannotation tag addition stage 622 and analyzes text surrounding thelocations of concepts of interest. As will be further discussed withreference to FIG. 7, changes to the contents of user profile file 516are based on the analysis of this surrounding text. The effect is toautomatically refine the patterns searched for by pattern identificationstage 620 to improve annotation performance.

FIG. 6C depicts the automatic annotation flow diagram of FIG. 5 in aparticular embodiment according to the present invention. This diagramis merely an example which should not limit the scope of the claimsherein. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many othervariations, alternatives, and modifications. Formatting stage 514includes a text rendering stage 626 that formats the annotated textprovided by content recognition stage 512 to facilitate viewing bybrowser 506. Pattern identification stage 620 looks for keywords and keyphrases of interest and locates relevant discussion of concepts based onthe located keywords. The identification of keywords and the applicationof the keywords to locating relevant discussion is preferablyaccomplished by reference to a reasoning or inference system. Thereasoning system is preferably a Bayesian belief network.

FIG. 7 depicts a portion of a representative Bayesian belief network 700implementing a reasoning system as used by pattern identification stage620 in a particular embodiment according to the present invention. Thisdiagram is merely an example which should not limit the scope of theclaims herein. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize manyother variations, alternatives, and modifications. A first oval 702represents a particular user-specified concept of interest. Other ovals704 represent subconcepts related to the concept identified by oval 702.Each line between one of subconcept ovals 704 and concept oval 702indicates that discussion of the subconcept implies discussion of theconcept. Each connection between one of subconcept ovals 704 and conceptoval 702 has an associated probability value indicated in percent.Discussion of the subconcept is in turn indicated by one or morekeywords or key phrases (not shown in FIG. 7).

The structure of Bayesian belief network 700 is only one possiblestructure applicable to the present invention. For example, one couldemploy a Bayesian belief network with more than two levels of hierarchyso that the presence of subconcepts is suggested by the presence of“subsubconcepts,” and so on. In the preferred embodiment, presence of akeyword or key phrase always indicates presence of discussion of thesubconcept but it is also possible to configure the belief network sothat presence of a keyword or key phrase suggests discussion of thesubconcept with a specified probability.

The primary source for the structure of Bayesian belief network 700including the selection of concepts, keywords and key phrases,interconnections, and probabilities is user profile file 516. In apreferred embodiment, user profile file 516 is selectable for bothediting and use from among profiles for many users.

The structure of reasoning system 700 is modifiable during use of theannotation system. The modifications may occur automatically in thebackground or may involve explicit user feedback input. The locations ofconcepts of interest determined by pattern identification stage 620 aremonitored by profile updating stage 624. Profile updating stage 624notes the proximity of other keywords and key phrases within eachanalyzed document to the locations of concepts of interest. Ifparticular keywords and key phrases are always near a concept ofinterest, the structure and contents of reasoning system 700 are updatedin the background without user input by profile updating stage 624. Thiscould mean changing probability values, introducing a new connectionbetween a subconcept and concept, or introducing a new keyword. As usedherein, keyword can comprise a single keyword, a phrase composed of oneor more words, or a key phrase.

User 504 may select a word or phrase in document 100 as being relevantto a particular concept even though the word or phrase has not yetdefined to be a keyword or phrase. Reasoning system 700 is then updatedto include the new keyword.

User 504 may also give feedback for an existing keyword, indicating theperceived relevance of the keyword to the concept of interest. If theselected keyword is indicated to be of high relevance to the concept ofinterest, the probability values connecting the subconcept indicated bythe selected keywords to the concept of interest increases. If, on theother hand, user 504 indicates the selected keywords to be of littleinterest, the probability values connecting these keywords to theconcept decrease.

FIG. 8 depicts a user interface for defining a user profile in aparticular embodiment according to the present invention. This diagramis merely an example which should not limit the scope of the claimsherein. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many othervariations, alternatives, and modifications. User interface screen 800is provided by profile editor 518. A profile name box 802 permits theuser to enter the name of the person or group to whom the profile to beedited is assigned. This permits the annotation system according to thepresent invention to be personalized to particular users or groups. Apassword box 804 provides security by requiring entry of a correctpassword prior to profile editing operations.

A defined concepts list 806 lists all of the concepts which alreadyexist in the user profile. By selecting a concept add button 808, theuser may add a new concept. By selecting a concept edit button 810, theuser may modify the belief network as it pertains to the listed conceptthat is currently selected. By selecting a remove button 812, the usermay delete a concept.

If a concept has been selected for editing, its name appears in aconcept name box 813. The portion of the belief network pertaining tothe selected concept is shown in a belief network display window 814.Belief network display window 814 shows the selected concept, thesubconcepts which have been defined as relating to the selected conceptand the percentage values associated with each relationship. The usermay add a subconcept by selecting a subconcept add button 815. The usermay edit a subconcept by selecting the subconcept in belief networkdisplay window 814 and then selecting a subconcept edit button 816. Asubconcept remove button 818 permits the user to delete a subconceptfrom the belief network.

Selecting subconcept add button 815 causes a subconcept add window 820to appear. Subconcept add window 820 includes a subconcept name box 822for entering the name of a new subconcept. A slider control 824 permitsthe user to select the percentage value that defines the probability ofthe selected concept appearing given that the newly selected subconceptappears. A keyword list 826 lists the keywords and key phrases whichindicate discussion of the subconcept. The user adds to the list byselecting a keyword add button 828 which causes display of a dialog box(not shown) for entering the new keyword or key phrase. The user deletesa keyword or key phrase by selecting it and then selecting a keyworddelete button 830. Once the user has finished defining the newsubconcept, he or she confirms the definition by selecting an OK button832. Selection of a cancel button 834 dismisses subconcept add window820 without affecting the belief network contents or structure.Selection of subconcept edit button 816 causes display of a windowsimilar to subconcept add window 820 permitting redefinition of theselected subconcept.

By determining whether a background learning checkbox 836 has beenselected, the user may enable or disable the operation of profileupdating stage 624. A web autofetch check box 838 permits the user toselect whether or not to enable an automatic web search process. Whenthis web search process is enabled, whenever a particular keyword or keyphrase is found frequently near where a defined concept is determined tobe discussed, a web search tool such as ALTAVISTA is employed to look onthe World Wide Web for documents containing the keyword or key phrase. Athreshold slider control 840 is provided to enable the user to set athreshold relevance level for this autofetching process.

FIGS. 9A-9B depict a user interface for providing feedback in aparticular embodiment according to the present invention. This diagramis merely an example which should not limit the scope of the claimsherein. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many othervariations, alternatives, and modifications. A user may select any textand call up a first feedback window 902. The text may or may not havebeen previously identified by the annotation system as relevant. Infirst feedback window 902 shown in FIG. 9A, user 504 may indicate theconcept to which the selected text is relevant. First feedback window902 may not be necessary when adjusting the relevance level for akeyword or key phrase that is already a part of belief network 700.After the user selects a concept in first feedback window 902, a secondfeedback window 904 is displayed for selecting the degree of relevance.Second feedback window 904 in FIG. 9B provides three choices for levelof relevance: good, medium (not sure), and bad. Alternatively, a slidercontrol could be used to set the level of relevance. If the selectedtext is not already a keyword or key phrase in belief network 700, a newsubconcept is added along with the associated new keyword. If theselected text is already a keyword, probability values within beliefnetwork 700 can be modified appropriately in response to this userfeedback.

FIG. 10 depicts a portion of an HTML document 100 processed in oneembodiment according to the present invention. This diagram is merely anexample which should not limit the scope of the claims herein. One ofordinary skill in the art would recognize many other variations,alternatives, and modifications. A block of text including relevant textis preceded by an a <SPAN . . . > tag, such as <SPAN . . . > tag 1006 ain FIG. 10, and followed by an </SPAN> tag, such as </SPAN> tag 1008 a,for example. The <SPAN . . . > tag includes the names of the concept andoptionally, subconcept, to which the annotated text is relevant. Forexample, <SPAN . . . > tag 1006 a includes the text,“class=rhtopic_Agent” indicating that the text in between the <SPAN . .. > tag 1006 a and corresponding </SPAN> tag 1008 a is relevant to theconcept “Agent.” The text “intelligent agent” comprises the text that isrelevant to this particular concept in this representative example.

In a preferred embodiment, software to implement the present inventionis written in the Java language. Preferably, the software forms a partof a stand-alone browser program. Alternatively, the code may be in theform of a so-called “plug-in” operating with a web browser used tobrowse HTML documents including the annotation tags explained above.

FIG. 11A is an illustration of a representative example of a marketingdisplay area in a web browser according to a particular embodiment ofthe present invention. This diagram is merely an example which shouldnot limit the scope of the claims herein. One of ordinary skill in theart would recognize many other variations, alternatives, andmodifications. FIG. 11A depicts a browser screen 1503 having twoadvertisement display areas. A first advertisement 1512, for aconference on handheld, ubiquitous computing, and a second advertisement1514, for the ACM Digital Library are displayed with browser screen1503. In this particular example, both advertising display areas 1512and 1514 display advertisements about a related concept, wearablecomputers. It is noteworthy that the advertisement displayed in area1514 is directed to a broader aspect of the underlying concept ofwearable computers than the advertisement displayed in area 1512. Theseadvertisements have been selected using the relevancy determiningtechniques described herein. However, other embodiments having differentconcepts in display areas, or different arrangements of display areas,numbers of display areas and the like can be easily created by those ofordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of theclaims.

FIG. 11B is an illustration of a further representative example of amarketing information display area in a web browser according to aparticular embodiment of the present invention. This diagram is merelyan example which should not limit the scope of the claims herein. One ofordinary skill in the art would recognize many other variations,alternatives, and modifications. FIG. 11B depicts a display area 1505having a technical document about a user interface tool displayedtherein. The advertisements displayed in marketing display area 1522 andmarketing display area 1524 point to two different conferences on userinterfaces. These advertisements have been selected using the relevancydetermining techniques described herein. Many other embodiments havingdifferent concepts in display areas, or different arrangements ofdisplay areas, numbers of display areas and the like can be easilycreated by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from thescope of the claims.

FIG. 11C is an illustration of a yet further representative example of amarketing information display area in a web browser according to aparticular embodiment of the present invention. This diagram is merelyan example which should not limit the scope of the claims herein. One ofordinary skill in the art would recognize many other variations,alternatives, and modifications. FIG. 11C depicts a browser screen 1507having an article about NCAA volleyball. Advertisements that refer to avolleyball equipment supplier and ESPN are displayed in a first displayarea 1532 and a second display area 1534, respectively. Theseadvertisements have been selected using the relevancy determiningtechniques described herein. Many other embodiments having differentconcepts in display areas, or different arrangements of display areas,numbers of display areas and the like can be easily created by those ofordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of theclaims.

FIG. 11D is an illustration of a representative example of an marketinginformation display area in a web browser according to a particularembodiment of the present invention. This diagram is merely an examplewhich should not limit the scope of the claims herein. One of ordinaryskill in the art would recognize many other variations, alternatives,and modifications. FIG. 11D depicts a browser screen 1509, which can bea screen from a browser provided by NEOPLANET, for example. Manyembodiments can be created using various browsers, such as InternetExplorer, by MICROSOFT CORPORATION, or NETSCAPE Navigator, by those ofordinary skill in the art. Browser screen 1509 illustrates a technicaldocument in a display area. An advertisement for SUN MICROSYSTEMS isdisplayed in an advertising area 1544 of browser screen 1509. Thisadvertisement has been selected using the relevancy determiningtechniques described herein. However, other embodiments having differentconcepts in display areas, or different arrangements of display areas,numbers of display areas and the like can be easily created by those ofordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of theclaims.

FIG. 11E is an illustration of a yet further representative example of amarketing information display area in a web browser according to aparticular embodiment of the present invention. This diagram is merelyan example which should not limit the scope of the claims herein. One ofordinary skill in the art would recognize many other variations,alternatives, and modifications. FIG. 11E depicts a browser screen 1511having a toolbar 1552. The browser screen 1511 is an Internet Explorer5.0 browser, by MICROSOFT CORPORATION and toolbar 1552 is a toolbar byYAHOO, Incorporated. Toolbar 1552 comprises a marketing display area1554 for an advertisement. Display screen 1511 displays a document abouta science fiction book and movie, “2001 Space Odyssey.” Marketingdisplay area 1554 depicts an advertisement for a “Star Wars” movie. Thisadvertisement has been selected using the relevancy determiningtechniques described herein. Many other embodiments having differentconcepts in display areas, or different arrangements of display areas,numbers of display areas and the like can be easily created by those ofordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of theclaims.

FIGS. 11F and 11G illustrate the operation of concept selection andadvertisement targeting in particular embodiments of the presentinvention. These diagrams are merely examples which should not limit thescope of the claims herein. One of ordinary skill in the art wouldrecognize many other variations, alternatives, and modifications. FIG.11F depicts a browser screen 1513 having a plurality of concepts 1502,each of which has been selected by a user to indicate that the user isinterested in these concepts. Browser screen 1513 includes anadvertising display area 1504, that is displaying two advertisementsrelevant to the selected concepts. A first advertisement is for an HCIInternational Conference. A second advertisement is for a UIST '99Conference. By contrast, FIG. 11G depicts browser screen 1513 as well.However, in FIG. 11G, the user has disabled two concepts, Interface andAugReal (Augmented Reality) from among the plurality of concepts 1502.Responsive to this change in selected concepts of interest, advertisingdisplay area 1504 now displays two different advertisements. A firstadvertisement is for an Ubiquitous and Handheld Computing Conference. Asecond advertisement is about IBM. Because the user has altered theselection of concepts of interest, the two advertisements displayed arenow the most relevant to the user. These advertisements have beenselected using the relevancy determining techniques described herein.Many other embodiments having different concepts in display areas, ordifferent arrangements of display areas, numbers of display areas andthe like can be easily created by those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope of the claims.

In conclusion, the present invention provides for a method of documentcontent analysis for targeting advertising. In the foregoingspecification, the invention has been described with reference to aspecific exemplary embodiments thereof. Many changes or modificationsare readily envisioned. For example, changing the size or arrangement ofthe document images in the display, changing the appearance and featuresof document images; adding audio effects when manipulating the documentimages, etc.; adding audio memos describing the contents of the documentimages, substituting any reasoning system for a Bayesian belief network,among other changes, are included within other embodiments of thepresent invention. It will be evident, however, that variousmodifications and changes may be made thereunto without departing fromthe broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in theappended claims and their full scope of equivalents.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than in a restrictive sense. It will, however, beevident that various modifications and changes may be made thereuntowithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention asset forth in the claims.

1. A method for targeting advertising to a user based upon documentcontent, the method comprising: identifying one or more document-relatedconcepts derived from analysis of content of a web document capable ofbeing displayed to the user; identifying one or moreadvertisement-related concepts corresponding to an advertising;comparing the one or more document-related concepts to the one or moreadvertising-related concepts to determine a relevance; and selecting theadvertising based on the relevance.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe web document is a web page.
 3. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: generating data for simultaneously displaying both the webdocument and the selected advertising to the user.
 4. The method ofclaim 3 wherein the generated data allows the web document to bedisplayed in a first display area, and the selected advertising to bedisplayed in a second display area adjacent to the first display area.5. The method of claim 4 wherein the first display area and seconddisplay area are located within a common web browser screen.
 6. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the one or more document-related concepts isidentified by analyzing the web document based on one or more userconcepts.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or moreadvertising-related concepts is identified by analyzing the web documentbased on one or more advertiser concepts.
 8. The method of claim 1wherein the one or more advertising-related concepts is identified by anadvertiser.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected advertisingcorresponds to an advertising most relevant to the user.
 10. The methodof claim 1 wherein the step of comparing the one or moredocument-related concepts to the one or more advertising-relatedconcepts further comprises: measuring a similarity between a first setof terms and a second set of terms; wherein the first set of termscomprises the one or more document-related concepts and the second setof terms comprises the one or more advertising-related concepts.
 11. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising: identifying one or moreadvertisement-related concepts relevant to an additional advertising;comparing the one or more document-related concepts to the one or moreadvertising-related concepts relevant to the additional advertising todetermine another relevance; and selecting the additional advertisingbased on the other relevance.
 12. The method of claim 11 furthercomprising: generating data for simultaneously displaying the webdocument, the selected advertising, and the additional selectedadvertising to the user.
 13. The method of claim 12 wherein thegenerated data allows the web document to be displayed in a firstdisplay area, and the selected advertising and the additional selectedadvertising to be displayed in a second display area adjacent to thefirst display area.
 14. The method of claim 11 wherein the selectedadvertising and the additional selected advertising correspond toadvertisings most relevant to the user.
 15. The method of claim 1wherein both the web document and the selected advertising are locatedwithin a common web browser screen.
 16. A computer program product fortargeting advertising to a user based upon document content, thecomputer program product comprising: code for identifying one or moredocument-related concepts derived from analysis of content of a webdocument capable of being displayed to the user; code for identifyingone or more advertisement-related concepts relevant to an advertising;code for comparing the one or more document-related concepts to the oneor more advertising-related concepts to determine a relevance; code forselecting the advertising based on the relevance; and a computerreadable storage medium for holding the codes.
 17. The computer programproduct of claim 16 further comprising: code for generating data forsimultaneously displaying both the web document and the selectedadvertising to the user.
 18. The computer program product of claim 17wherein the generated data allows the web document to be displayed in afirst display area, and the selected advertising to be displayed in asecond display area adjacent to the first display area.
 19. A system fortargeting advertising to a user based upon document content, the methodcomprising: means for identifying one or more document-related conceptsderived from analysis of content of a web document capable of beingdisplayed to the user; means for identifying one or moreadvertisement-related concepts relevant to an advertising; means forcomparing the one or more document-related concepts to the one or moreadvertising-related concepts to determine a relevance; and means forselecting the advertising based on the relevance.
 20. The system ofclaim 19 further comprising: means for generating data forsimultaneously displaying both the web document and the selectedadvertising to the user.
 21. The system of claim 20 wherein thegenerated data allows the web document to be displayed in a firstdisplay area, and the selected advertising to be displayed in a seconddisplay area adjacent to the first display area.
 22. A method fordetermining if an advertising is relevant to a web document, the methodcomprising: identifying one or more advertisement-related conceptscorresponding to the advertising; identifying one or moredocument-related concepts for the web document based on text of one ormore queries on a search engine that yield a result that links to theweb document; comparing the one or more advertisement-related conceptsto the one or more document-related concepts to determine if a matchexists; and determining that the advertising is relevant to the webdocument if the match exists.
 23. A method for determining if anadvertising is relevant to a web document, the method comprising:identifying one or more advertisement-related concepts corresponding tothe advertising; identifying one or more document-related concepts forthe web document based on a search query history of one or more userswho visit the web document; comparing the one or moreadvertisement-related concepts to the one or more document-relatedconcepts to determine if a match exists; and determining that theadvertising is relevant to the web document if the match exists.
 24. Amethod of serving to a target web page a relevant advertisement, themethod comprising: receiving a request for an advertising that isrelevant to the web document; analyzing text of the web document toidentify one or more document-related concepts corresponding to the webdocument; determining advertisings that are associated with at least oneof the one or more document-related concepts; and providing at least oneof the associated advertisings in response to the request.
 25. Anapparatus for determining if an advertising is relevant to a webdocument, the apparatus comprising: means for identifying one or moreadvertisement-related concepts corresponding to the advertising; meansfor analyzing content of the web document to identify one or moredocument-related concepts for the web document; means for comparing theone or more advertisement-related concepts to the one or moredocument-related concepts to determine if a match exists; and means fordetermining that the advertising is relevant to the web document if thematch exists.
 26. A method for determining if an advertising is relevantto a web document, the method comprising: identifying one or moreadvertisement-related concepts corresponding to the advertising;analyzing content of the web document to identify one or moredocument-related concepts for the web document; comparing the one ormore advertisement-related concepts to the one or more document-relatedconcepts to determine if a match exists; and determining that theadvertising is relevant to the web document if the match exists.
 27. Anapparatus for determining if an advertising is relevant to a webdocument, the apparatus comprising: at least one memory having programinstructions, and at least one processor configured to execute theprogram instructions to perform operations of: identifying one or moreadvertisement-related concepts corresponding to the advertising;analyzing content of the web document to identify one or moredocument-related concepts for the web document; comparing the one ormore advertisement-related concepts to the one or more document-relatedconcepts to determine if a match exists; and determining that theadvertising is relevant to the web document if the match exists.